Board of Commissioners

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

Three of five commissioners attended. Four of the eight comments asked the board to fund the election coordinator position. The elections director said the new election laws taking effect this year were not fully accounted for, and pointed to Wake County approving six new positions and Dare County approving this one out of two. The county Democratic Party chair and a poll worker training coordinator described the training the position would run, which state law requires and which changes with every legislative session. The board added the position at its work session two days later.

Two teachers spoke for the reinstatement of master's pay in the school budget. One described finishing a master's in art education in 2016 and learning after she was hired that the state had backdated the 2015 repeal to 2013, leaving her $40,000 in debt and no raise. Another said he took a pay cut moving here from Mississippi and earns more as a carpenter than as a teacher with a master's degree.

A volunteer who joined the Chatham County Rescue Squad in 1977 objected to a funding cut and to a tiered reimbursement that accepts less than full response. He said all three of the county's rescue squads have now failed for want of funding, and that the $50,000 sitting in a fire department vehicle fund is about what was cut from the squad.

A written comment asked where the $31.8 million in federal pandemic and recovery money went and whether it has been folded into the county's baseline.

Who spoke

8 members of the public spoke.

1. A poll worker of three election cycles asked the board to increase the elections office budget so it can recruit and keep skilled staff.
2. A resident asked where the $31.8 million in federal pandemic and recovery money went, and whether one-time federal funds have been folded into the county's baseline budget.
3. A teacher thanked the superintendent for putting master's pay back in the proposed budget and described finishing a master's in art education in 2016, only to find the state had backdated the 2015 repeal to 2013.
4. A rescue squad volunteer since 1977 objected to the funding cut and the tiered reimbursement that accepts less than full response, and said all three of the county's rescue squads have failed for want of funding.
5. A carpentry teacher said he took a pay cut moving from Mississippi and earns more as a carpenter than as a teacher with a master's degree, and that restoring master's pay says the county values its educators.
6. The chair of the county Democratic Party asked the board to make the Board of Elections' full-time election coordinator a top funding priority.
7. The county's poll worker training coordinator for the last general election described the training the new position would run, which state law requires and which changes with each session.
8. The elections director said the new election laws taking effect this year were not fully accounted for, and noted Wake County approved six new positions and Dare County approved this one out of two.

Eight comments, six in person and two in writing. Four asked the board to fund a full-time election coordinator, two asked for the reinstatement of teachers' master's pay, one objected to a cut in rescue squad funding, and one asked for an accounting of the county's federal pandemic relief money.

Read from the records the government published after the meeting. Members of the public are private residents and are not named or indexed.